Class To Make English, Spanish Equal Partners

District 112 To Try Dual-language Plan

The changing ethnic diversity of some North Shore communities not only is being seen in the faces of residents, but also is being heard in the words they speak.

Now one school district-- North Shore District 112--wants to tap into the diversity found in its youngest pupils and create a voluntary program that would team up children who speak mainly Spanish with those who speak solely English. Their school days would be steeped in the ABCs and 1-2-3s of both languages.

In the pilot program, classrooms would be evenly divided between Spanish- and English-speaking children. Pupils would learn the usual subjects of reading, writing and arithmetic, but they would be taught in both languages.

"We need to give them tools to be able to work cross-culturally, to be sensitive to each other and know at least one other language," said Melissa Wolf, coordinator for English as a second language and foreign languages in the district, which largely embraces Highland Park and Highwood.

Educators believe that the magnet program for up to 140 kindergartners and 1st graders that would begin next fall would develop more than just bilingual children. In a class of 20 children, for instance, there would be 10 Spanish-speaking youngsters and 10 English-speaking.

District officials said it also would help them resolve a practical dilemma involving ethnic segregation: About 60 percent of the pupils at one grade school, Oak Terrace in Highwood, are Hispanic.

The concept goes by many names, among them: dual language, dual language immersion, developmental bilingual and two-way bilingual education. It is an idea in practice at schools in Chicago, Carpentersville and Hoffman Estates.

And it is gaining momentum as schools search for ways to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse population and prepare English-dominant students for a growing multicultural society, educators say.

The Washington-based Center for Applied Linguistics estimates that 196 schools across the country had programs as of May 1995. Although the Spanish-English combination is most common, other languages include Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Navajo.

The program took hold in Chicago in 1975 with the Inter-American Magnet School, and now has spread to 15 elementary schools and one high school in the Chicago Public Schools.

It will be part of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, Chicago's new Catholic school set to open in the fall at 1846 W. 22nd Pl., according to Sister Judith Murphy, the school principal.

In the suburbs, a dual-language program is now in its second year in Hoffman Estates and Carpentersville, through the help of a federal grant.

Barbara Schremser, principal of MacArthur School in Hoffman Estates, said the dual-language pupils are academically on par with pupils in the regular kindergarten and 1st-grade classes. In kindergarten, 80 percent of the day is in Spanish, 20 percent in English. In 1st grade, the ratio is 70-30 Spanish to English. Language arts curriculum is delivered to each child in his or her own language.

Officials in District 112 have not decided yet how the day would be divided linguistically, "but certainly we see immersion as very substantial," said Seth Harkins, director of instructional development.

District 112 is undergoing a demographics change. Enrollment of Hispanic children has increased 55 percent in the last seven years, according to the district. Hispanics make up about 12 percent of the district's enrollment of about 4,100 pupils.

The elementary school district is proposing four kindergarten classes and three 1st-grade classes divided between Oak Terrace School in Highwood and Red Oak School in Highland Park. Indian Trail School in Highland Park also is under consideration.

The district is asking parents to commit their children for three years and would add a new grade level each year. So far, 24 pupils, about evenly divided between English and Spanish speakers, have signed up, according to Wolf.

Harkins put the start-up cost at between $120,000 and $150,000. It is hoped that part of that amount would be financed through grants, he said.

The program would need approval by the school board, since it is required to authorize expenditures. So far, the board has been enthusiastic.

But parents have many questions--from the effectiveness of the concept to its implementation.

"They don't have the logistics all ironed out," said Highland Park parent Daryl Tennant. "How is somebody supposed to make a decision?"

She supports the idea of introducing a foreign language to her children at a young age, but not at the high level of immersion found in a dual-language program.

Several parents question why the district is pushing the program for the fall, instead of waiting a year to put its nuts and bolts in place and give parents more time to investigate it.

Harkins said the district has been studying the idea for "a long time." He said he doesn't believe it will be difficult to overcome the hurdles to starting it in the fall.

Parent Liz Biondi has put her daughter's name on the list to be considered for the program. She said her daughter, Traci, is learning some words in Swahili as her kindergarten class takes an imaginary trip to Africa.

"She's very excited about that," Biondi said of her 6-year-old, who also learned some words of Spanish in preschool.

During a recent informational meeting, Margoth Moreno, who came to Highland Park from Colombia as a teenager in 1969, told the group in Spanish that the program would create a new generation of people without prejudices. Her two children are too old to be eligible for the program, but she attended the meeting to ensure that the program helps other Latino kids in the community.